The forest

Dear Yuletide Writer,

thank you so much for writing for me! This is my first time participating in Yuletide, and I'm rather new at this whole letter-writing thing, so I hope I manage to provide you with the information you seek.

Things I enjoy in stories: unreliable narrators, plot twists, politics, intrigue, messed-up power dynamics, moral grey areas, learning that life isn't black and white, friends-to-lovers, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, competence, enemies forced to work together, grudging respect, magic, power, the seduction of power, fighting the seduction of power, loyalty, forced-bonding, telepathy, forced marriages, arranged marriages, agency, fighting to retain/reclaim agency when circumstances/people threaten to take it away, refusing to be a victim

Smut things I enjoy: slash, polyamory, het, threesomes, negotiating relationships, negotiating kink, consensual sex, dub-con, bondage, masochism, sadism, humiliation (not public), power imbalance, accidental magic during sex, sex magic, first times not being perfect, humor in bed

Things I don't want: Character deaths, gore, seasonal fics, A/B/O universes, alternative universes without magic in canons that have magic, unhappy endings, kid fics, historical AU, bodyswaps, writing style with second-person POV.

But more than anything, dear secret writer, I want that you enjoy writing for me. Don't worry too much. Listen to your muses. Let them take you where they will. The ideas and prompts I wrote in the optional details are just that, possible ideas. If they inspire your muses, go have fun! But if they don't, then focus on the characters and the fandom and write what you want to write. That's the joy of tiny fandoms, every new story is a gift and I know I will love whatever you come up with. So whatever you do, have fun doing it!

......

Since this is my first yule-letter, I must confess that I've spent way too much time reading other people's letters and trying to see how is done right. Most people seem to use this next part to give prompts and ideas, but I already did that in the optional details, so it feels a tad redundant. Instead, I'm going to share with you why I like these tiny fandoms we seem to have in common. Maybe some of it will resonate with you.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison: This is such a kind, gentle book. I've reread it a couple of times and every time it fills me with warmth. I love Maia's kindness, his quiet intelligence, his willingness to see beyond the trappings of power, how he listens to advice and surrounds himself with competent people, how he is the kind of leader that recognizes the importance of good advisors and doesn't need yes-men to validate his ego. This book hits my competence kink, and my loyalty kink and my fealty kink and it gets me so good every time. I love Maia's willingness to be forgiving and kind and merciful when he can afford to be, without being blind or naive or willing to forget. Often forgiveness is equal with forgetting and negating anger and pain, as if once you've chosen to forgive all those other emotions would go away. They don't, and this books gets it so right. I fell in love with this universe, its politics and intrigues. I liked Csethiro's fierceness and Vedero's intelligence and Maia's ability, inspired by his mother, to see and recognize the worth of these women that surround him. The book let me wanting to know more about Maia's work as a ruler, the changes he wants to bring about, the bridges he intends to build, literally and figuratively. Just more, really, anything set in that potential future would make me so happy.

Lucifer (TV): Lucifer! Lucifer! Lucifer! I think that's the characters that makes the show for me. I love his dry wit and his sarcasm, his absolute self-absorption and unshakable self-confidence, his charisma, his sex-appeal. All those issues he carries around that would probably make the National Geographic pale in comparison. I kind of love pondering about the lore behind him: because when it comes down to it, of all of God's angels he is the only one that seems to have free will. He defied God back when, and he's defying him now, again, by abandoning Hell and coming to Earth despite his father's orders. So I keep asking myself: if free will is this one thing that God only gave to humans, how come Lucifer (this version of him anyway) has it, too? And really, even when you assume that God was the one who gave humans free will, wasn't Lucifer the one who taught humans how to (tempted them into) actually using it? And because I love agency, that kinds of makes me like this version of him quite a lot. So, I keep watching the show, and enjoying the banter between him and Chloe and Dr. Martin, and wondering about Lucifer's powers, and his role, and thinking that history is written by the victors (and we know who is the victor in the Bible), which poses the question: what parts of history were left out?

Rivers of London by Ben Aaranovitch: Where to start? I don't even... I like everything about these books. First of all: magic! Urban fantasy! Magic around the corner! My favorite kind of magic, the kind that makes me think that if I wake up late for work on Monday and miss the buss and turn right instead of left, I might be able to spot it, because magic is real and it's all around us. This book is proof. And then, there's politics, and intrigue and mysteries to solve, and you have Peter who couldn't be more different than Nightingale, and yet somehow has become his first apprentice ever. I love Peter's intelligence, and the way he sees problems from a whole different perspective than Nightingale does. I love Peter's dry sarcasm, and his love of London and architecture, his uncanny ability to get himself into trouble and out of it, and how despite being decades younger than Nightingale he sometimes seems to understand politics and strategic alliances better than Nightingale does. I love the power imbalance of their relationship: the whole master/apprentice dynamics, the boss/constable dynamics, the older man/younger man dynamics. I like to read about them working together, love seeing Nightingale making a genuine effort to become the kind of mentor Peter needs. I'm curious about Nightingale's backstory, about his views on this modern world he's seen change so much during the last decades. I want to see the two of them get together and find out what consequences it would have for the demi-monde, for the police department. I could go on and on and on. I haven't even mentioned the rivers and every single character in the books, how I love all of them (even Lesley, though thinking about her hurts right now, which I why I asked you to avoid her, if possible.) So, really, I better shut up now, because more incoherent glee about this books will not help much, probably.

Whatever you end up writing, I just want for you to enjoy it! So that's it, no more words from me. I look forward to reading whatever it is you come up with. And thank you so much for writing!